Ancient Colorado; Maritime Colorado
Denver Public Art 1%
2005.4.5
Maritime Colorado
Pueblo Reservoir State Park
85 million years ago
Colorado was underwater millions of years ago—not a mile high, but 500 feet below the sea! Air-breathing marine reptiles called plesiosaurs roamed the waters, surfacing occasionally for air. Schools of fish beneath the waves drew the attention of soaring pterosaurs with their eye on a quick meal.
It’s hard to imagine Colorado as a seafloor, but a mile-thick layer of evidence in the form of marine mud and limestone lies under downtown Denver. You can see the Pierre Shale and other Cretaceous Period formations, containing fossils of fish and other marine life, at Pueblo Reservoir State Park.
Pueblo Reservoir State Park
85 million years ago
Colorado was underwater millions of years ago—not a mile high, but 500 feet below the sea! Air-breathing marine reptiles called plesiosaurs roamed the waters, surfacing occasionally for air. Schools of fish beneath the waves drew the attention of soaring pterosaurs with their eye on a quick meal.
It’s hard to imagine Colorado as a seafloor, but a mile-thick layer of evidence in the form of marine mud and limestone lies under downtown Denver. You can see the Pierre Shale and other Cretaceous Period formations, containing fossils of fish and other marine life, at Pueblo Reservoir State Park.